“We’re beautiful”“Somos hermosos”

“We’re beautiful”

Actor brings it home

Story by Anthony López | Livin’ Americana

“I loved my block,” says Nabil Viñas.

Nabil Viñas is a born and bred New Yorker, straight out of Washington Heights.

The Viñas family emigrated from the city of Moca in the Dominican Republic in the 70’s. His parents knew each other in Moca but got together in New York. His mother had come to the city to help support her mother, while his father wanted to expand his music career. They had three children.

“I had a really lucky childhood in the Heights. I loved my block,” said Viñas. “I grew up the youngest of three kids and my dad was the super of our building. He was really loved by the tenants there, a lot of which came from the Dominican Republic just like him.”

“Our cousins lived on the second floor and my grandmother, who passed away recently, lived on the 6th floor,” recalled Viñas. “There were even more relatives living there at different times, and really it felt like a building full of family, which I didn’t realize was so special until I became an adult. Looking back, especially with the quickly gentrifying city, I feel incredibly lucky to have had that experience.”

Hip hop was Viñas’ first passion, and he pursued a career as a lyricist right up until he took his first acting class while attending Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC).

Though he’d originally opted to become a math major, he fell in love with the craft. He’d later transfer to the City College of New York and receive a degree in theater.

After graduation, Viñas became very involved in the city’s acting scene. He is an official member of the Barefoot Theatre Company, Poetic Theater Productions and a co-founding member of The Seven Collective.

The Viñas family in Washington Heights.

And when he isn’t on the stage or on camera, he’s an arts educator seeking to share his craft with the next generation.

“I make it a point to help artists in my community develop their projects, or to support, whether financially or buying tickets or promoting or ‘liking’ or making introductions,” Viñas said. “Resources are all that separates us from the majority of the people telling stories up there. But we can be resources for each other.”

Viñas has facilitated filmmaking workshops at The Cinema School, the nation’s first film high school; has taught acting classes at The Independent Film School; and has worked as part of the Transformative Justice Team at The Bronx Academy for Software Engineering (BASE), specializing in conflict resolution and mentorship.

He’s also been a substitute teacher in various high schools in the city.

“I grew up watching tv and movies and being confused as to why no one on screen looked like the people who lived on my block,” Viñas said. “It’s been a theme in my life that I want to keep communicating to my people that there’s no difference between the characters on the screen and us.”

In 2013, he shifted from the stage to the screen and has also become active behind the camera. A few years ago he wrote, produced and starred in Come Back Hailey a short film about a heartbroken guy who’s hit rock bottom. It was a successfully crowd-funded production that was well received and played in various film festivals in New York. He is currently finishing another short film called The Brothers Molina, scheduled to be released later this year.

Viñas’ father (far left) and his band Los Heralds in Moca.

Viñas’ newest project is a feature film titled Tomorrow Ever After, which will premiere in Los Angeles and New York on May 5th. He describes the film as a unique sci-fi fantasy with a surprisingly powerful social commentary that challenges us to think bigger in these strangest of times.

Viñas plays Milton, a desperate man with a good heart that tries to help Shaina (played by Ela Thier), a seemingly odd woman who is also a historian.

Thier also wrote, directed and starred in the indie film that boasts a diverse ensemble cast of immigrants and first-generation immigrants from the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Ghana, Nigeria, Lebanon, and Israel.

Two of the producing partners are Ukrainian and the cinematographer is from Surinam.

The diversity of the cast was important to Viñas.

He said he appreciates the opportunities offered by independent films to break out of the kinds of roles he feels boxed into.

On stage at The Delancey with Tsi Labrev (circa 2008).

“I’ve embraced the fact that part of my job as a Latino male actor is to mess with this system a bit,” Viñas said. “If we get asked to play a character written as Latino, we’re almost always peripheral or a stereotype – tough guys or Latin lovers. Some guys have fun doing it, and it’s good to be working, but to me, it’s not as satisfying. It’s why I ended up doing a lot of independent films.”

Viñas said he is excited about the work ahead, and remains committed to bringing the stories around him to life.

“We’re beautiful, we’re smart, we’re creative,” insists Viñas. “There’s nothing we have to change about ourselves to be up there.”